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Hello friends.
I've never played the first guild wars, and I've never played a B2P MMO, however, I did try to play the F2P DDO Unlimited, but the art style and animations were so deplorable that I couldn't bear to remain for too long. That game is the extent of my experience with F2Ps. While I do understand that the game will have to be bought in order for me to play it, I have seen information stating that the game will have an in-game shop. I don't mind this as long as it operates the same as DDO Unlimited. In DDO Unlimited, you don't feel pressured to buy stuff if you don't want to, as you can unlock it all as you go, at the normal pace of most mmos, utilizing points that you earned while questing. If Guild Wars was like this, then I'm totally fine with Guild Wars 2 taking this route, as I won't feel pressured to buy something that i can earn on my own.
Or is it the kind of setup where certain players will have more content and stronger characters, simply because the items and content they purchase is only exclusive to those who shell out the cash for it? Or can it be earned in game as well? Talk to me, GW veterans....
"Everyone dies. It is how one lives that matters."
Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore)
"P.S. MAKE NO DEALS WITH THE WOLF." -Durzo Blint-
"But, there is one they fear.
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin -- Dragonborn!" -Game of the Century-
Comments
Been awhile since I've played GW tbh, but if I recall correctly the in-game store only have stuff like extra storage spaces, character slots and such. Nothing you are required to buy. I'm guessing it will be the same with GW2.
Nerf rock, paper is fine -Scissor
there will be no shop with items that gives advantage over other players. It will be similar to gw1, where you can buy costumes, character slots, change your character's name and appearance etc. So don't worry about it.
Guild Wars 2 Youtube Croatian Maniacs
My Guild Wars titles
I refer you to a thread from GW2G's QnA section.
Disagreement Heirarchy
As with GW 1 all in game items you can buy in the shop you can get in game with time spent.
If you'd like to spend 20 dollars and get all PvP armor, weapons, and mods, you can, or you can work for it through the game. Likewise with all the skills, though running through the game to all the skill trainers most likely won't be very tough once they get the skill train going.
http://guildwars.com/products/extras/default.php
That's the list of things the store currently offers. NOTE: The skill unlock packs do not contain elites or skills that provide major advantages to buyers, you might have all the skills but if you don't know how to use them its all a waste of money.
This is not a game.
also keep in mind that gear does not give an advantage over other players, atleast not in gw1.
one set of top-tier armor had the same stats as the other, and the only hard ones to get were for aesthetics.
Good to hear. That eases my concerns a bit. That was about the ONLY thing that I was worried about with this game. Every other piece of information that is released fills me with excitement and anticipation of actually getting a chance to play this game. Now all I need to see is a profession release of an assassin/rogue type of character. Keeping my fingers crossed...
"Everyone dies. It is how one lives that matters."
Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore)
"P.S. MAKE NO DEALS WITH THE WOLF." -Durzo Blint-
"But, there is one they fear.
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin -- Dragonborn!" -Game of the Century-
What you need to understand is that Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are not a F2P model based on revenue coming in from a cash shop. Their income is from box sales for adventure packs or expansions.
In Guild Wars, I don't even think you can access their shop while in the game. I've only ever been able to browse after launching the client while in the character selection screen. You don't purchase an imaginary currency with cash to buy items; they sell character slots since there's only one server, and a handful of cosmetic items. And skill packs of skills that are in the game. The skill packs don't give you an unfair advantage, everyone can get them and would if they ran the PVE missions. It's for people who don't play Guild Wars for the RPG aspect, but for the PVP at the end. You are able to create a max level 20 character from the start, and that's what the skill packs are for.
Trust me, I despise F2P games as much as anyone on these forums could hate. I absolutely love the subscription based model and hate the direction the genre is going. That being said, if the genre went the direction of Guild Wars payment model I don't think I could muster up one complaint.
Guild Wars doesn't have a shop like Runes of Magic has a shop. They don't have a shop like DDO, the future LoTRO shop, Allods, or any other F2P you can think of.
At times they sell cosmetic outfits with absolutely no stats. They sell character slots (there aren't multiple servers). They sell skill packs for the people who play only for the PVP campaign and skip the PVE. You aren't buying potions, combat items, XP enhancements, or really anything you can even SEE ingame.
There is no buying your way to power in Guild Wars. There is no buying your way around content and taking the easy way. There is no buying gear that makes you overpowered. There is no buying items that make you level 25/50/75% faster than everyone else.
They generate their income with the B2P model; selling adventure packs and expansions. And while the assassin/rogue-esque class wasn't in Guild Wars by default, it is now, and I can completely see (and am expecting them) to have one in Guild Wars 2 by default before an expansion.
I sincerely appreciate the time you have taken to alleviate my fears. Thank you for the detailed response. It was a huge help!
"Everyone dies. It is how one lives that matters."
Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore)
"P.S. MAKE NO DEALS WITH THE WOLF." -Durzo Blint-
"But, there is one they fear.
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin -- Dragonborn!" -Game of the Century-
No problem at all. Sorry for the typos and stating the same thing multiple times; was typing it on my phone and Android force-closed an app in the background and it caused some difficulties getting back to my post in progress and editing, haha.
I wouldn't go that far, the easy way would definitely be buying the skill and armor packs. Not having to work for anything and instead paying money for it is definitely the point of cash shops primarily. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't make you any MORE powerful then others that go through PvE, but it does cut down on time and opens up skills and items that take other at least a minimal amount of time to get.
Of course these shops weren't open when prophecies first launched, so I doubt we'd see something like a cash shop similar to GW1 on launch.
Point taken, and you're right. I was in the mindset of how I played (and the majority of players I encountered) who played the game for the skills and such at the time I was writing that paragraph. I wouldn't even say it's necessary if you plan on actually playing the game as a whole. I have yet to purchase anything myself.
But at the same time I ignore it because to me it went with the general game design and motion of things in Guild Wars; being able to create a 20 from the start and jump right into the PVP side of things. Those things are required for that. But most people I know who played through the game didn't buy much in terms of the bundles of skills and armor, etc.
Most people I know (including myself) only bought the skill packs for their secondary/pvp accounts. It was a big deal back when the Xunlai Tournament House was open to have more than one account, that way you could earn extra z-keys off the betting system. Asides from that, most of the upper tier gvg'ers had secondary accounts to use in smurf/alt guilds, especially for z-quest day or bonus weekends where lower ranked guilds were gvging en-mass (easier to get quick matches without being a high ranked guild).
Anyways, you can get enough skills fast and easy in game, and there are no buy only skills.
The thing that might be more common in GW2 and the possible thing of concern is mini expansions or as some call them "Adventure packs". We are not really sure how much of the later released content that will be free and how much that demands you to buy an expansion or mini expansion.
You should be able to play without that and GW2 will still be a lot cheaper than any P2P game but you will have to buy an expansion and maybe a few mini expansions each year to be updated in the game. Still most MMOs forces you to buy an expansion every year or every second year anyways so it isn't a big deal to me.